gautham / antseed
Antseed
Brand directions, round 1
October 2026

Three early directions for the Antseed brand, with the references behind each one. They all start from one thought: there’s nobody in the middle.

antseed

00 Brief

Antseed is an open market for AI inference. You get 700+ models from independent providers, with no aggregator taking a cut, and no account to sign up for. The product already does what it says. The brand doesn’t look like it yet.

82B+Tokens processed
700+Models
158+Providers

As of October 2026.

00.1 The name

Ants carry seeds. Seeds pay them for it.

Some plants grow a small fatty snack on their seeds. Ants carry the seed home, eat the snack and leave the seed in the nest, where it sprouts. Nobody is in charge and both sides get something out of it, which is pretty much how Antseed works. Biologists call it myrmecochory.

00.2 What we’re after

A brand the whole network can wear. You’d know it without the logo, and anyone can use it.

01

Show the idea. “Nobody in the middle” should come across before anyone reads a word.

02

Look made by people. The category is gradients, glowing orbs and robots. Antseed shouldn’t be.

03

Work in the tools. Terminal, docs, pricing table first. Posters second.

These are directions, not finished identities. Use the references for the feeling.

00.3 Directions

Three directions.

Ant-traced script lettering
01Swarm

Lots of small marks that come together to make the identity.
Ink-line illustration grid
02Market

Black ink characters and flat colour. Funny and human.
Mother Design, the painted Keen world
03Folklore

Folk art, the way a community makes it.
01 SwarmThe systemAntseed, 2026

Swarm

01.00Rob Farmer, Ant Picnic · Rubio del Amo, Harinas La Encarnación · ant-drawn lettering from the moodboard.
The idea

A brand made of thousands of small marks.

There's no middleman in Antseed. Providers find each other and handle requests directly, a bit like an ant colony where nobody is giving orders.

The identity would work the same way. Lots of small marks (ants, dots, trails) gather into words and pictures, then wander off again. It also builds on the dot Antseed already uses, so it isn't starting from zero.

  • For AntseedA wordmark drawn live by real traffic on the network. Dots that show which provider served your request.
  • TypeA script that only ever appears drawn by ants. A plain grotesk and a mono for everything else.
  • ColourMostly black and paper, with chartreuse. Pink only for data.
  • ImageReal photography with trails and pixel masks drawn on top.
  • MotionThings gather, then scatter.
  • Looks toVera Molnár, Sol LeWitt, Craig Reynolds’ Boids.
01

Swarm

The swarm writes the brand.

Try itPick a word, or run your cursor through the ants.
ReferencesFrom the moodboard and the design press.21 pieces
Ants as type
Letters made out of ants. The script only exists while they're drawing it.
01.01Ants as the strokes of a script.
01.02Chartreuse and black.
01.03Dotted script over a photo.
01.04The same trick at small size, as a detail.
01.05Dotted lettering on a t-shirt.
Marks that make letters
Type and pictures built from hundreds of small marks. From The Brand Identity.
01.06Rubio del Amo, Harinas La Encarnación, 2026. A dove drawn in hand-placed dots.
01.07Oda, Cartesia, 2024. Old engravings broken into dither.
01.08Oda, Cartesia. A pixel logo that keeps redrawing itself.
The trail
A dotted line left behind by lots of small movements. It can lead you around a page.
01.09A ring of ants. Nearly a logo already.
01.10A trail linking things on a page.
01.11A trail made of images.
01.12A whole drawing in one dotted line.
01.13A numbered dot-to-dot. The trail as a drawing.
Dots over image
Dots as texture, or as a way to show data. Pixel masks over photos, or cross-stitch for something more hand-made.
01.14Lines drawn over a photo.
01.15A pixel mask over a cow.
01.16The same idea on an illustration.
01.17Pixel type on an ID card.
In motion
Brand films from the studios themselves.
FilmStudio Dumbar, Cumulus Park launch. Dot letters that keep rebuilding. Source
FilmDIA, Nuits Sonores 2025. Type that melts and smokes. Source
FilmPraktika, Science Island. A dot-matrix identity in motion. Via Creative Review. Source
FilmStudio Dumbar, Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Music drawn as patterns of tiny marks. Source
02 MarketThe peopleAntseed, 2026

Market

02.00Gander, Phil’s Finest · Saint Urbain, Digs · How&How, Big Cartel.
The idea

A marketplace, drawn by the people in it.

Antseed is a marketplace. Anyone can sell inference, anyone can buy it, and nobody in between takes a cut. A market is people doing deals, so this direction draws the deals.

Black ink, flat colour and a bit of humour.

  • For AntseedA small cast: the provider, the agent and the ant who carries the work between them. Receipts and price tags as a graphic device.
  • TypeA soft serif, plus a mono for prices and labels.
  • ColourBlack line on butter yellow, lilac, sky blue and green.
  • ImageInk characters in one line weight, usually busy doing something.
  • MotionLines drawing themselves on. Small bounces.
  • Looks toRichard Scarry, Saul Steinberg, Sempé, Bruegel.
References22 pieces
Big Cartel, up close
How&How, 2025. Loose ink drawings carried across posters, phones, pricing and merch. Via BP&O.
02.01Pricing cards, each with its own drawing.
02.02Drawings over phone screens.
02.03The logo, with a doodle that keeps changing.
02.04An octopus poster on the street.
02.05The poster series.
02.06Merch: “Stop dreaming. Start doing.”
The line
One line weight, black ink, drawn quickly and with a sense of humour.
02.07A sheet of characters rather than one mascot.
02.08New Yorker spot drawings.
02.09Halftone shading, a nod to the dot.
02.10Saint Urbain, Digs, 2026. A cast of dogs in thin line.
02.11Characters in an app's empty states.
Line on colour
Black drawings on flat colour. Simple enough to work on a billboard.
02.12Mailchimp's illustrations across lots of colours.
02.13One character, one colour, nothing else.
Brands doing it now
Recent identities where loose ink drawing carries the whole brand.
02.14Buck and Roman Muradov, Notion, 2024.
02.15Illa with Dasha Surma, Tuma, 2024.
02.16Saint Urbain, Digs billboards.
02.17Gander, Phil’s Finest, 2023.
02.18Collins, Mailchimp poster, 2018.
In motion
FilmAnimade for Dropbox, 2017. The rebrand illustrations animated. Source
FilmGiant Ant for Mailchimp, Guidance. 2018. Source
FilmBuck for Mailchimp, Momentum. 2020. Source
FilmBuck and Roman Muradov for Notion, 2024. Source
03 FolkloreThe commonsAntseed, 2026

Folklore

03.00Mother Design and María Jesús Contreras, Keen · María Jesús Contreras, personal work.
The idea

Made by many, owned by no one.

Folk art doesn't have one author. Communities make it, copy it and change it over generations, and nobody owns it. Antseed is similar: an open network that belongs to the people who run it and use it.

So this direction borrows the look of folk art: rich, hand-made pictures with lots of pattern and warm colour, made from a shared set of motifs that anyone in the network can use.

  • For AntseedA shared set of motifs, borders and frames. Each provider gets its own motif, and the network map is built from them, so it grows as the network grows.
  • TypeA sharp, high-contrast serif with a plain grotesk.
  • ColourRed ochre, umber, deep green, yellow and cobalt.
  • ImageHand-painted and full of pattern and detail, often in arched frames.
  • MotionSlow drifts through arched frames, as in Keen.
  • Looks toGond art, Madhubani painting, Polish wycinanki, Mexican amate painting.
References19 pieces
Keen, up close
Mother Design with illustrator María Jesús Contreras. One painted world, cut up into scenes for every part of the brand.
03.01Keen’s whole world in one frame.
03.02The beanstalk, used as a menu.
03.03The world inside an oval frame.
03.04The illustration wrapped around a room.
Keen, scene by scene
Snapshots from the brand's motion work. Fine pen line, flat colour, a symbol hidden in every scene. Via Design Compass.
03.05An eye in the clouds over the city.
03.06Sun, lion and the phases of the moon.
03.07A sheepdog big enough to lie on.
03.08A tent, a campfire, a plant pot in the sky.
Keen in motion
Loops from the launch. The scenes drift through arched and circular frames.
03.09Scenes passing through a frame.
03.10The framing devices: orbit, aperture, intersect, overlap.
María Jesús Contreras
The illustrator behind Keen, in her own work. Dense, funny and a little surreal. From mariajesuscontreras.com.
03.11A picnic run by rabbits.
03.12A horse, a garden and too many cats.
03.13Counting sheep.
03.14Goldfish in a glass, plants everywhere.
Colour and ornament
Red ochre and umber from rock art, lifted with yellow and blue, and decoration done by hand.
03.15A palette taken from cave painting.
03.16Columns and vines on a warm gradient.
03.17Decorative and slightly surreal.
In motion
FilmMother Design, the Keen case film. Source
FilmMother Design, the Keen homepage moving through the painted world. Source
04 Compare
01 Swarm02 Market03 Folklore
The ideaLots of small marks make up the brand.People and ants trading, drawn in ink.Folk art as a shared look anyone can use.
Works best forProduct, motion and the website.Social, merch and campaigns.Launches and big brand moments.
Watch forAnts looking like bugs, or drifting into generic particle effects.Getting too cute and losing the technical side.Reading as wellness or fantasy rather than tech.

If it’s mostly the website and product, Swarm. If it’s people and personality, Market. If it’s launches and big moments, Folklore.

05 Next

Pick the one that feels most like Antseed. If two are close, say which.

Tell us why in a line or two. The next round is logo, type and colour tests for that direction, about two weeks out.

06 References
The full reference library ↗Every project, film, illustrator and search term behind the three directions.